LOTTO Game Launch

Arkansas Scholarship Lottery

Celebrity cats, creativity and client goals.

Creating a winning combination for the lottery.

Situation

The Arkansas Scholarship Lottery identified an opportunity to create a high-jackpot game that was only played and won in Arkansas. Going head-to-head with national games like Powerball® and Mega Millions®, with bigger payouts and more brand awareness, created a great marketing challenge - and an even bigger opportunity.

The Lottery partnered with CJRW for a statewide marketing campaign to accomplish all the above, and launched LOTTO. CJRW was asked to launch the game, teach people how it works and build excitement for the first drawing - and beyond.

>

Background Photo:

Strategy

 

Beginning weeks before the game was launched, CJRW employed a rich, digital-media strategy that, in combination with traditional TV and radio, aimed to promote LOTTO awareness in populations in every area of the state. Social media content engaged audiences constantly with game info and giveaways, peaking with a livestream broadcast before the first drawing. From digital outdoor to negotiated bonus media partnerships, the strategy proved to be a great success.

The creative campaign focused on the quirky things that players do in the name of luck. CJRW explored these idiosyncrasies in the “Your Numbers. Your Game.” - the launch campaign for LOTTO. Doing so required some versatile character actors, and even a specially trained cat from L.A.

Expanding beyond traditional media, we created community events that captured the public’s interest. LOTTO activations for two Little Rock events, the Main Street Food Truck Festival and the Arkansas State Fair, offered audiences the chance to play games, win prizes, leave with a positive lottery experience - and take home some free merch.

CJRW also leveraged a brand partnership with Jackpocket, a nationally known ticket-selling app, and harnessed the power of social media in a 25-minute broadcast on Facebook Live. Viewers played along for free gas cards and Jackpocket credits. The result was the highest single-day engagement in the brand’s history - 20,000 live comments in less than a half hour.

>

Background Photo:

Success

So, what happened? Well, a lot. The campaign got people talking. More importantly, it got people buying tickets. With more than 186 million media impressions, bonus negotiated media of $477,606, and earned media of $1.3 million - CJRW successfully educated and energized the state about this new game. All of which led to almost half a million in tickets sold in the first two months. In short, our team, our ideas, and our passion were a winning combination that created a LOTTO success.